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Monday, January 31, 2011

Ever wanted a cute necklace with your name on it? I looked for a necklace like this for ages, and didn't know where to get one, now I found out. Mynamenecklace.com makes personalized necklaces, any name that you want can be engraved for you. These necklaces are marketed as the "Carrie Sex and the City" necklaces. They ship for free worldwide, which is great and their necklaces range from $29.95-$139.95US. They have simple silver ones (like the one that I got) or even gold or diamond-cut. Your necklace will arrive in a pretty little box with a bow on it (like above).

I have a bit of a unique name, and I find it difficult to find anything with my name on it. You know how stores sell keychains or magnets with your name on it, they NEVER have my name, only Justin! It's annoying.

This is the sterling silver necklace, it's nicely made with a silver chain. You can select your preferred chain length too including 14', 16', 18' 20' or 22'. I had a hard time deciding which one that I wanted. I prefer to have shorter necklaces because I don't tend to wear many "revealing" tops, so I opted for the 14' turns out it's very short! If I were to order one again, I would definitely get a longer one next time.

As you can see the 14' length hits right at the collarbone, it's short but still wearable of course, a little pokey because it is so short though. This is the shortest length that they make. I think it's pretty on and goes with everything. It would make for a nice Valentine's Day gift for a girlfriend or mom or sister or friend, anyone really.

If you are interested in getting one, you can enter the code "GIFT" and get 10% off your order. Click here to check it out on MyNameNecklace.com

Disclaimer: This necklace was provided by MyNameNecklace.com for review consideration.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

This is Part 3 of my Maybelline Fit Me review series, today I am reviewing the concealer. I did a review of the foundation, and the powder previously. This concealer is described as "flawless that let's the real you come through. Beyond matching: fresh, breathable, natural." For a concealer, personally I am not looking for anything natural, or letting the "real" me come through, I am looking for a concealer that hides the real me, and conceals, that is the point after all, you know what's I am saying? I think we all look for that.

Unlike the wide variety of foundation and powder shades in the Fit Me line, there are only 2 concealer shades in each level (2 concealers for 100's, 200's and 300's) for a total of 6 shades. So if your foundation colour is in the 100 's range of Fit Me, you get to choose from 2 concealers either 10 or 15. I have 10 here, which is the lightest and matches the foundation in 110 which is quite yellow toned, this concealer is yellow for sure, a pretty dark yellow too. I think for a line that is supposed to make it easy for women to find the right match, they really should of had more variety of concealers only 6 shades?

The packaging is the standard doe-foot applicator. These types of concealers are usually best for under the eyes because their coverage is low.

Here is a swatch comparing Maybelline Fit Me concealer in 10 with Maybelline Superstay in Ivory, you can see that the Fit me is much darker. I have learned over time that most of the concealers that I use are far too light for me. I always apply concealer before foundation, so if it is too dark it won't matter because it gets covered anyway, and since I am so pale the whole 'white under the eyes' doesn't really look right on me. I need a more yellow/orangey/salmon coloured concealer to neutralize the red/blueness under the eyes. If you are looking for a lighter concealer, Fit Me's 15 concealer is much more pink toned (as is the foundation). This concealer is very smooth. blends well, is non-drying, non-creasy on me, which is nice.

And the application here, Fit me concealer on your left and nothing on the right. It's very smooth and blends nicely. It covers, but not great, if you need high-coverage under the eyes, this isn't for you. The coverage on Revlon's Moisturizing Cream concealer (my favourite drugstore concealer) is much better for example. This concealer is more like MAC's Moisturecover, it helps refresh your under-eye area, but not not completely, this is absolutely not medium-full coverage. I would suggest this concealer only for under the eyes, but not really enough coverage for all over the face, and I don't think it would stay put either since this concealer is so creamy/liquidy.

Of all the Fit Me products that I bought (including foundation, powder and concealer) I like the foundation the best, but I will definitely keep using all of them, and perhaps together is a good bet too, products usually work best that way. The concealer didn't wow me, the foundation didn't give awesome coverage and the powder is just average, none are necessarily bad, just not anything amazing either.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

This is Part 2 of my Maybelline Fit Me review, check out yesterday's review on the foundation (if you haven't already) today I am talking about the pressed powder. I have this in 110 just like my co-ordinating foundation colour. As you all know, the Fit me line has a matching powder, concealer, blush and bronzer to go with your foundation shade. There are 18 powder shades available, one for every foundation shade. I am normally not a powder girl, since I have dry skin, but I opted to give this a try because I had great coupons to use on these products and ended up paying about $4 for each item. The powder is advertised as "natural coverage that leaves skin the way it is meant to be, fresh, breathing and flawless, no oils, no waxes, no nonsense".

The pressed powder comes in a chic black packaging, it's squared, but once you open the powder it's round, it would of been cool to have a square pan, but whatever. It has a compartment underneath for a puff and a mirror on the back of the powder too. I would of preferred the mirror to be on top of the powder itself, instead of the see-through top in my opinion. Notice the ugly Walmart sticker on the side of the compact? Love that.. why do company's ruin pretty packaging? I can't get this sticky stuff off!

The matching powder and foundation do not look to be the same colour, the powder looks much lighter. But actually (and this is a fault in the colouring of this line) the powder once applied is DARKER than the foundation. I was tempted to buy 115 since it's darker, but that colour is very pink in the powder and I suspect VERY pink once applied. This powder does oxidize (when used with this foundation) so please be careful what shade you choose.

I found the coverage of this powder to be comparable to MAC's Mineralized Skin Finish Natural (except MAC's powder is much smoother). I have MSFN in the colour 'Light' and as you can tell it's a tad darker in the pan and more yellow swatched. I use both as a setting powder only since the coverage is so minimal. Since the Fit Me foundation itself is so dewy and wet-feeling, I feel like the powder is really necessary (or some powder anyway) to set it better. I like that this powder does not make me itch and it works on my dry skin (which is new for drugstore powders for me). It's not hydrating or anything, but it does not dry out my face, feels comfortable on.

Here are the ingredients on the back for those interested, first ingredient is Talc. That's the Walmart sticker on the bottom left that ripped up part of the label. I feel this powder is nice, nothing wow, and nothing worth running out to get. I think it works nicely with the Fit Me foundation, but any powder would.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Maybelline's new "Fit Me" foundation was a hugely anticipated foundation for me, once I saw it come out around Christmas in the US I knew that I wanted to try it out. I am foundation-obsessed, I know that I own more foundation than any other makeup product, hands down. This new line, "Fit Me" is designed to assist in helping women find their perfect shade to "fit" them. Once you find your foundation shade, you can match it to the co-ordinating shade in powder, concealer, blush and bronzer. I picked up the foundation, powder and concealer only, the blush and bronzer I would suggest passing on since it looks like they just repackaged it to include it in this line. I will review the foundation today, and the powder and concealer will follow.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sigma recently came out with new brush kits, these are the "Make Me Up" collection and come in 4 colours: black (Make Me Classy), purple (Make Me Crazy), pink (Make Me Blush) and blue (Make Me Cool). These kits include their 12 most popular brushes in Sigma's professional brush kit plus a handy brush holder. The main reason why I wanted to get this set was for the brush holder. At the moment, I keep my brushes on my bathroom sink, the most used ones that is, and the rest (kinda used ones) are under my sink in a ELF large brush holder (recommend that as well). I know it's bad to keep your makeup brushes in the bathroom because of the moisture and all that, however I do not shower in that bathroom anyway (we have two), but I do use the sink obviously so I know my brushes are probably getting dirty from that. That's why I like this brush holder because it can be closed by putting the one part on the top and securing it together, then your brushes are covered and safe.

These kits retail for $99 US on the Sigma website, which is the same price of the 12 piece in the brush roll. I prefer the brush holder that comes with this because it's super handy.

Here is the brush container closed with the brushes inside. This makes for great storage and you can even take this with you on travels. The container is a quite hard plastic, it won't bend or tear. I picked out the purple (Make Me Crazy) kit because purple is one of my favourite colours. I was going to get the black, but thought why get more black brushes? This way it adds a pop of colour to my brush collection.

Here are the 12 brushes that you get, they come with purple handles and pink ferrules, I think they look really nice. The numbering system is the same and the writing is in a holographic style (the shine on my flash is picking this up a bit here). I will now compare these brushes with the regular black ones that come in the 12 professional brush kit. If I haven't included a comparison brush below it means that I don't own it.

F30 - Large Powder brush: This brush is great for applying powder foundation or all over setting powder. Compared to the original F30 (mine is SS150 but it doesn't matter) I found the newer one to have a bit more rounded, tapered bristles, softness was the same, it bled some colour upon initial washing as did the black one. The black brush is a tad taller than the purple one.
Edit: The purple one continues to bleed dye as I wash it and is still quite stinky, I think with continued exposure to air it this should dissipate and the dye will stop.

F50 - Duo Fibre: This can give that airbrush look when applying liquid foundation. In this case, the purple one is a little bit taller. I feel like the purple one is also slightly less dense, is more floppy on the face, perhaps it has less black bristles.

F40 - Large Angled Contour: I use this to apply blush. Not any differences amongst these two that I could spot, the black one is slightly taller.

F60 - Foundation: Basic foundation painter brush, I use this for light foundation application sometimes, prefer flat top brushes personally. The black one is slightly taller, and it has a more defined tip on the bristles, whereas the purple is more rounded.

E55 - Eye Shading: Basic lid eyeshadow brush. Purple one is slightly taller, and the bristles are slightly taller too. Density is the same, not scratchy on the eyes at all.

E30 - Pencil: Good eyeshadow brush for applying precise colour to the crease. The black brush is quite a bit taller. Purple bristles are slightly more pointy, but not really to notice.

E40 - Tapered Blending: I use this one for blending concealer and setting powder under the eyes. These two brushes are probably the most similar in the bunch, brush length is the same and fluffiness and size of bristles is very similar. The purple one continued to bleed colour much longer than the black one did while washing, always wash your brushes before using!

F70 - Concealer: Good brush at precision concealing for spots and acne. These two are very similar too, brush length is the same. Purple brush has slightly more tapered bristles.

E60 - Large Shader: Good brush for cream shadow or pigment application. I don't own the original black brush but I have read that this purple one has a much larger head.

E70 - Medium Angled Shading: Good for applying crease colour or applying lid colour. I don't have the original one in this either, but it seems like a nice brush.

E65 - Small Angle: Used to apply eyeliner. I don't wear eyeliner, so I don't use brushes like this, but it's nice. Don't have the original.

E05 - Eyeliner: I don't use this brush either, same explanation as above, but this is a nice quite dense eyeliner brush. Only thing is, if you put the plastic cover on this, be careful when you take it off because it can bend the bristles on the sides.

And here are all the brushes, black and purples ones in the brush holder. Face brushes on the left and eyebrushes on the right. Not too sure how I am going to organize them yet, but I know some people separate their clean and dirty (to be cleaned) ones.

In conclusion, I see no real differences with these purple "Make Me Crazy" kit brushes except for the brush lengths themselves, only a few brushes were the same length, they seem to be all over the place. Not a big deal, but I am very critical of makeup products and I will point these discrepancies out. I know Sigma brushes are factory made so there probably isn't so much focus on quality control regarding size of handles. Also, the black ones overall feel heavier, that is probably because the ferrule on those is more of a metal, whereas the purple ones are aluminum looking. The ferrule is more pinched looking on the black ones too. I think these brushes are nice to have if you don't already have the 12 piece kit, or you want the brush holder.

Disclaimer: Products were sent from Sigma Makeup for review consideration.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

This is Part 2 of my Wet N Wild Color Icon eyeshadows review, yesterday I did the "Vanity" palette and today I will review "Lust". Next to neutral browns, my second favourite eyeshadow colours to wear are purples. I have green eyes so purples make them pop, so I had to get this palette.

Monday, January 24, 2011

I am no longer a Wet N Wild eyeshadow virgin, I finally went out and got two of the Color Icon eyeshadow palettes the other day. I know everyone loves these, but I am true to my MAC shadows and do not get as excited about eyeshadow as I do foundation. Plus these are like $7 in Canada, I know that's still cheap but you know, it adds up. In the US these are on sale all the time, but not here. And we never did get the limited edition holiday ones that everyone was raving about, I wish we did (edit: apparently we did get them, I just didn't bother looking.. oops!). Anyone want to send them to me? ;P

Friday, January 21, 2011

My order came in from Allcosmeticswholesale today. If you haven't ordered from them they are a great place to get discounted makeup and discontinued items too. I have no affiliation with them, I've just ordered from them myself and love their products. But I will say, shipping is expensive in my opinion, but at least they ship to Canada, which is great. I will show you what I got, reviews on everything are coming up if there is interest. Edit: Recently I had a negative experience with All Cosmetics Wholesale and will not be purchasing with them again, their customer service (or lack of) is terrible and I suggest you avoid them. (November 12/2011)

Smashbox's Photo Finish foundation primer in the Color Correcting version Adjust. This is a green-toned corrector meant to cancel out redness in the face. I love the packaging on this, it has a pump, nice light bottle. Even if the green doesn't do anything, the primer itself is awesome and I've always wanted to try a full bottle of the stuff. Have you tried it? Does it work?

MAC Phloof! eyeshadow, this is a frosted off-white colour. In person to me it looks a little pinky with a kind of blue sheen. I love building up my MAC eyeshadow collection. I ordered Nocturnelle and Signed and Sealed eyeshadow off Amazon.com recently too.

And lastly, Laura Mercier Moisturizing Foundation the colour, Blush Ivory. Very nice frosted glass bottle, great pump, love it. I was hesitant to get this, but ACW only had this shade available and it was only $29 vs paying $42 at Sephora for it, so I grabbed it. I thought it would have pink undertones, but it is surprisingly neutral toned I think and it will hopefully work for me. Is it moisturizing? I would have to say no on first impression, I swatched it and it doesn't seem all that to me (I have dry skin so anything with the word "moisturizing" in the name is a winner for me).

I caught the sunset in Toronto in my picture that is what you are seeing there, I thought it was kind of cool. Have a good weekend everyone!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Dior Skin Nude is hands down one of the best foundation that I've ever used. I got this last month and have been reaching for it over all my other foundations often. I think I am going crack down and do a bunch of foundation reviews over the next week or so, because I want to throw A LOT of my "failed" foundations away and only be left with what I really like. For me, that will take a lot of time since you all know I am quite the foundation hoarder.

Anyway, back to the review, I love this foundation because 1) it gives natural looking medium coverage 2) gives a lovely glowy finish 3) feels hydrating and comfortable on my skin. Those points are in no particular order, but the feeling good on my skin one is very important to me. I find that foundation application is difficult for me a lot of the time because my skin is SO dry and many drugstore foundation are catered to those with oily/normal skin, they fail to recognize that those with dry skin also need foundation.

I have this in the lightest colour, 010 which I thought was too light at first, but it actually works nicely, its either too warm or too cool. The perfect colour for me. I have the trouble of going too dark with foundations (hello drugstore foundation) because a colour light enough for me just does not exist, which is a shame because I am not that light either. On the back of the bottle, it instructs you to shake the bottle before use, this is actually really important for this product, since it is so thin texture and liquidly, it needs to be mixed well in the bottle for it to work correctly. The foundation has a scent too, a light flowery one that I actually really like.

The packaging on Dior Skin Nude is beautiful, it comes in a luxurious glass bottle with a very nice pump. For me, half the battle in finding a good foundation is one that comes with a pump! All foundations should have a pump damnit. Why do companies keep putting out expensive foundation $40-60 with NO pump just irritates me. I have read that over time, the pump on this stops working however, and it's difficult to get the reminder out, hasn't happened to me yet but I haven't had it long enough either.

My review for this foundation is that it's totally awesome, a glowing review for such a glowing product!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Since I have dry/dehydrated skin, I find it very difficult to find a powder that goes not emphasize my dry areas and more often than not, I do not "set" my makeup with powder for this reason. Powders make me look ashy or like I am wearing caked on powder basically, and that's not a pretty look. Some even cause my skin to itch and feel tight. Almay's Hydrating Makeup does not do that, it has this awesome cooling, wet feeling that I really enjoy and is unlike any other powder I've ever used. This product is identical to the Revlon Colorstay Aqua Mineral makeup (they came out at the same time), but for a bit less money, hence why I chose this one.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

I ventured out and bought some beauty products today, drugstore and MAC. I was on a mission to find the new Maybelline Fit Me foundation, people have been asking me on twitter, what I thought of it, but I have no opinion because I haven't tried it! Canadians get stuff late a lot of the time. Although the Shoppers Drug Mart flyer has this foundation... no store actually has it, at least not the 4 that I hit up today! So it will be some waiting for that one I think. I loathe waiting around while everyone else gets to try stuff and rave about it.

The two paint pots that I picked up from Cham Pale were terrible in my opinion and went back, I exchanged one for Bare Study paint pot, which I am much happier with. I know I will like this because I had a sample of it before. This paint pot is shimmery too, but not at all to the extent of Chilled On Ice paint pot and it's much more opaque, should of got what I knew was good in the first place.

While I was paying, the MAC girl handed me an invite for the new collection coming out "Wonder Woman". I got this very elaborate animated ad invite, she told me to RSVP right away if I want to be part of the pre-launch party. I don't know, do you guys like anything from this collection? I thought it looked a bit kiddy.

If you've been following my blog you know that I don't have blue eyes (they are green), but this palette from NYX looked gorgeous so I picked it up. The colours are so buttery and pigmented. They had one for blue/green/blue and a smoky one, but this one stood out the most to me, not crazy about the blues, but the others are pretty.

And lastly, I got the Ganier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Creme. I've had my eye on this for a while, and finally got it. I've been using my small jar of Clinique Moisture Surge and this definitely reminds me of it, same texture. I know lotions are more for dry skin, but I actually prefer gels, they go on really nice and feel great on my skin. This stuff is love love love. Have you tried this product? You should, it's fabulous!